


Lt. William Coen is Dead

by HunterJamie



Category: Resident Evil - All Media Types
Genre: Mention of novel characters, Not much to add for tags?, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24031453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterJamie/pseuds/HunterJamie
Summary: After some investigation and the world finally seeing the truth of Raccoon, Rebecca finally has the chance to go and talk to the man who would have been in charge of Billy's execution.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Lt. William Coen is Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Based more on the novels by S.D.Perry. In the books, the Alpha team was in contact with the Bravo team when it crashed, making quite a plot hole. This is kind of a fix-it as well as just wanting to do something with Billy and Rebecca.

It had been a year now that the government finally believed us about the T-virus and everything that Umbrella did. It was a year since B.S.A.A. was formed and Terrasave started to work with them. After so much damage had already happened, we were finally believed.

In truth, it took me that long to finally realize that what had happened to me and the other survivors, S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team, was no longer being seen as we were just on drugs. No matter how many times Chris told me, it was still hard to get in my head. We spend so long hiding and doing what we could to bring down Umbrella, it was pretty damn shocking to finally come out to the light, to tell the world what really happened.

Well, mostly what happened. I couldn’t say anything. In fact, half the stuff Chris, Jill, and Barry had said about the Bravo team made no sense to me. I had gone out with my team to check out the murders, to hopefully catch the killers. I had survived for over twenty-four hours on my own, well mostly. But the way they talked, I had only been alone for an hour or two. I would have told them… But by the time I could, I realized that it wasn’t important. They could see everything as a spill and it still makes sense.

It just didn’t make sense to me as to why our stories conflicted. At least until David and I looked into it without letting the others know what we were up to.

It was a month later that I found my answers, and it took even longer than that to get myself to walk into the Ragithon base to speak to Col. Laski. He oversaw the prison, and I was thankful that he allowed me to make an appointment on such short notice. I was tempted to see if David had said anything.

The first thing I noticed about him when I walked in was that he was aged. I knew he was at least in his late forties, early fifties, but he looked like he was in his sixties. He was also very organized. Everything on his desk had a certain place to go, nothing was out of order. And when I walked in, he stood up. I still felt small compared to everyone else, and he was no different. He was a good 6’ 4” compared to my 5’3”. His broad shoulders didn’t help either. After all, even though it had been a while, I was still pretty tiny compared to everyone I stood next to. I swear, even Claire was broader than me.

“Ms. Chambers. Glad to make your acquaintance.” He reached over his desk to shake my hand. I could tell why his handshake wasn’t firm. There was some scarring under his cuff. There must have been some damage done to his wrist.

I sat in the chair then, smiling lightly. “The pleasure is mine. I am sorry for asking for this meeting… but no matter how important some things are…” I looked down. “It is far overdue for this…”

I was silent a moment before digging into my shirt to pull out some dog tags. I thought it was best to show him these first. I handed them over, not even looking down to see ‘Coen, William’ or the rank of Lieutenant on there.

The Sergeant took the tags and frowned as he saw the name. “I have been looking for him. How the hell did you get these?” He looked at me, those weary eyes suddenly taking on a judgmental view.

I just looked at him before my polite smile turned a little sad. “Before I tell you that… I need to tell you what happened before, so it will make sense. You have heard the reports, right? From my teams?” I waited for him to nod before I continued. “Part of it is wrong. They are not lies though, just misinformation that the rest of S.T.A.R.S. don’t know about.”

Col. Laski looked at me a moment before nodding slowly. He was listening now. He set the tags to the side, gentle enough they didn’t make a lot of sound. It almost seemed like he understood that I would have liked those respected.

“It took me a while to realize something was off during the meetings. You see, my first experience with the virus was not actually at the Spencer Estate with everyone else… I was at a training facility the night before. It had taken me an entire day just to get to the Estate, and by the time I got there… Well, it was already night and I had to go in, terrified of the dogs.”

Laski held a hand up, pausing me before I could continue. “Mr. Redfield said that the Alpha team had been sent out shortly after the Bravos crashed.”

I nodded. “That was because of Captain Wesker…” I grimaced a bit with the bad taste in my mouth from saying his name. “I had to figure that information out. I needed to know why it was that it took an entire day for the Alphas to figure out we had crashed. So I did some digging.” I reached into a bag that I had been carrying, pulling out a file to hand to the man. “While we were heading out, he had been recording our trip. He hadn’t expected the lightning to strike, but that made it all the easier really. So the next day, when the Alphas were setting up to head out… he just had everything play as though it was a normal mission. He even managed to make it seem like our coordinates were in real-time. The Alpha team had no idea that we had already been gone an entire day.”

“Meaning he could get information on not just a team struggling to survive on their own, but also trying to protect possible wounded.” Laski was finally getting it. A team on full strength was one situation, but when there were two different factors it was a different ball game. The B.O.W.s could be evaluated on how well they did with a person protecting someone. Did they go after the wounded first or the one with a gun?

I had to smile as he caught on. I didn’t have to go into too many details then on why the information was so faulty. “You are correct. But… back to the main point. That night, when I did go out, well, if not for Lt. Coen, I would have died. His escape had been an accident but for me a fortunate one. We met on a train and from there my nightmare started. And really, he saved my life too many times.” I looked down and closed my eyes. The one moment I could remember clearly, the moment I realized I needed him to survive, had been when that thing made of the leaches first attacked me. And then a moment later when he helped me a little bit through what I did… shooting Edward.

Laski watched me a moment. “So… a convicted killer saved you…”

I nodded. “And I saved him sometimes. I started to trust him, actually feeling like him being convicted was wrong. When he had the chance to kill me, he never took it, even though I could have arrested him.” I folded my fingers together, smile gone by this point. “I am not here to prove his innocence though. I am here to say that he died.” At least the thought of what he was. I really didn’t like lying to a commanding officer. In truth, I had no rank any more now that I worked in labs more than in the field. But lying was still hard to do to someone with authority.

“How did he die?” Laski leaned forward, frowning some. He actually had a look of sympathy in his eyes. But then again, no one can go through something like that and not get connected to someone. Many soldiers understood that principle.

I opened my eyes and looked at him. I had been thinking this over for so long. I swear, I had the story memorized in my head. “We got attacked by a creature, one that was using James Marcus as a vessel. It took over and attacked us before we could get out.” I felt a knot in my stomach, hoping this was at all believable. It was hard to even get any hope up about something like that after so long of no one believing me. “We figured out that the creature was sensitive to the sun, and thankfully it was morning. So we were able to get the roof open. However… I didn’t get out with Billy.” She was unashamed for using that name. She still cared for him. No need to just call him Lt. Coen. “Someone set for the place to detonate. But one of us had to keep the thing at bay so it couldn’t hide, couldn’t save itself. Because I was just a rookie at my job, just starting to live my life and wasn’t even in my twenties yet… Billy took the chance and got me out of there. I barely got out alive. I only had the tags with me because he had given them to me earlier, feeling I would have been the only one to care about him once we got out…”

He nodded lightly. He got a file up on the computer, typing some things in. It must have been Billy’s file. “So, you came just to let us know about that, huh…?” He looked at me again, sympathetic.

I nodded, and let out a soft sigh. I looked at the tags a moment, wondering what would happen with them now. Would they be melted, or just thrown somewhere? I didn’t exactly like either idea… They wouldn’t do much with tags of a ‘criminal’, now would they? They wouldn’t celebrate him either. “If anything, I felt it right to let someone know.”

I stood up after a moment. I was done; I told the man what I had to. I didn’t really want to say any more about the subject. Sure I knew the truth. But that didn’t change the fact that I didn’t like the idea of lying that Billy died. I didn’t even know if he did get out of the forest, or if he perished because of the dogs. I could only hope at this point.

“I think I should go now… Thank you for meeting me.” I turned to walk out, not planning to say much more. It was just time for me to go.

I was right at the door, about to open it when I heard “I think you forgot something.” I turned, confused before I saw that Laski was holding up the dog tags. I must have looked confused. “He didn’t have any next of kin… He was right about you caring, but after helping you survive… Well, I can understand that. I think you should have this.”

I stared at the man a moment before letting out a small, grateful smile. I walked back over and took the tags back to slip them over my neck. I looked at them a moment. “Thank you… Wish I could say more…”

“I think you said enough. I hope you have a good day, Ms. Chambers.” He shook my hand before sitting down, letting me leave.

I turned and did just that. I went home, feeling just a little lighter now that was out of the way, though I felt a little numb at the same time. Must have been because of talking about Billy after so long. I was still terrified that he never made it out, but it was impossible to know. I could only hope really.

So I drove home. It was a nice little community. It was in one of those towns that no one ever heard of despite being close to a University and had a small population. I had enough privacy that no one could know what I did most of the time if I chose, but everyone was close enough that if anything happened I would be alright. Hell, my neighbor was the sheriff. My house was a one-story two-bedroom house. The outside was painted white and had a nice wooden fence. I was still trying to think about how I could get a dog, but after everything, I was unsure if I wanted one.

I thought I was done after that, that Billy would be safer with his file saying he was deceased. Still, I wished I could do more, like prove his innocence.

It was days later that anything happened again. It was a clear day after work, an early day off with holidays coming up. I could see my garden as I pulled up, a nice thing to tend to when I wasn’t focused at work. Though… as I looked at it, I noticed that some of the plants were actually picked. I had planned on doing that when I got home. I reached over and pulled my handgun out of the glove department. It was a precaution. I had it where if I needed it, it could be pulled out quickly. If not, it would be hidden.

I walked forward, looking around. I didn’t feel like anything was bad. My instincts told me I was safe. Maybe it was just a neighbor who decided to help. After all, it could be pretty generous around there. Might have been thinking they were doing me a favor. There was a basket next to the steps with some carrots, rutabaga, and beets. I walked over and looked at them, making sure they were alright. Not knowing who did this, I didn’t know if anything was bruised.

I was so busy looking at them… I didn’t notice anyone behind me. Well, when I heard him speak, the feeling I got was way too familiar from before.

“Hey, dollface.”

I couldn’t help but freeze a moment, my heart pounding. I slowly turned, looking up at the man, already knowing who it was before I saw him. “Billy?” I looked into his dark eyes, seeing that familiar smirk on his lips.

“Was in the neighborhood. Thought I would stop by.” He chuckled a bit, though he had to take a few steps back when I jumped up and hugged him. And I was so happy when I felt his arms around me, holding me tight, proving just how much he had missed me. I ignored the pain of the dog tags digging into my sternum. I just wanted to hold him for a bit.

Billy was alive. And when he saw that his file had changed, his status reading ‘deceased’, he came to visit. Knowing he wasn’t hunted, he knew he was safe to see me again, to let me know he was okay.

And that was all that either of us cared about; we were both alive.


End file.
